


Spark

by OvalNephrite



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, sfw
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-19 06:28:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8193694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OvalNephrite/pseuds/OvalNephrite
Summary: A Jasper and Pearl, attached at opposite ends of the same cord, yet constantly tugging away.





	1. Meeting

It started so innocently.

  
Through the halls of Pink Diamond Jasper marched, shoulders broadened and chin raised with pride. Without words, she insisted that others be at her eye level or deemed unworthy, and yet that was the only reason she felt the brush against her side.

  
For such a hardy warrior, the velvet touch shouldn’t have even been recognized, and yet it did so much more than that. It made her extended knee buckle, a shiver running down her spine, and her head whip around behind her. Glowing eyes were illuminated further by her own gem.

  
For the delicate ballerina, a simple brush was enough to send her stumbling, grace morphing into embarrassment as she too turned her head to face the one she had run into. She opened her mouth to speak before her eyes widened, recognizing the pulsing light that came from her own forehead as well as the identity of the other. She closed her mouth.

  
In silence they stared at each other, the bright light emitting from their gems growing brighter with every moment, the spark between them crackling violently without a sound. Pearl regained her balance. Jasper took a step forward.

  
The single step echoed through the room, a predatory action that matched her slowly changing expression. Slowly she grew closer and closer to the Pearl whom she did not know. She barely had to raise her hand from her side to reach the smaller gem’s cheek, hovering over it. Pearl inhaled..

  
..and ran.

  
Turning on her heel, she darted away with the speed of a frightened doe. Away from the stranger, away from the warmth of her hand, and away from the spark.

  
Jasper stood there frozen, dumbfounded, her hand unmoving as if the cold cheek would return to it if she waited long enough. For many moments, it did not, and soon she lost patience. She clenched her fist tight, nails digging into her palms, and snarled.

  
No matter where Jasper looked, the pearl she searched for eluded her. Hiding from the connection, running from the feeling, and yet Jasper continued to search. Thousands of years passed, marked only by more unanswered questions. Jaspers never give up, but she almost did.

 

Then she stepped off of her ship and met the eyes of the Renegade.

  
Hidden by the bright green light of the vessel, two gems glowed.


	2. Release

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Steven is in danger, it is easy to form Opal.

_ “Not relevant to the mission!” _

 

How could it not be? Standing before Jasper was Rose, the start of all of this, protected by the one she had been seeking for centuries. How could she have known that she would be here? Of every planet, every star system she had searched, she had to be _here._ A renegade.

 

_ “Lost, defective Pearl.” _

 

She spit those words, masked with disgust, and used them to release all of her pent up anger, frustration, and betrayal. Yet as soon as they left her mouth, the Pearl’s expression changed. Fleeting, but there- a pained expression, reflecting Jasper’s own feelings directly back to her.

 

She wanted to take those words back, swallow them and never see them again, but it was too late for that. Her glowing gem ached. This wasn’t what she was here for. This wasn’t her mission. For centuries it had distracted her, and it was time to find closure.

 

_ “Just blast them with the ship.” _

 

That mistake was what started it all. The pulse of her gem dimmed as she focused on the smaller, weaker version of Rose Quartz. New emotions clashed within her, battling for dominance to be shown through her expression.

 

She pushed them back, along with her arm. She clenched her fist, as if gathering all the emotion into one tight space, and released it. Rose was out in an instant.

 

_ “Steven!” _

 

Everything stopped. Jasper had frozen, rigid and straight, yet not in the way she had been trained. No, this was not discipline- It was shock, satisfaction.

 

The Pearl’s voice was just as she imagined it.

 

She collected herself and turned. All had been sorted. Surely now, they could finally figure this out.

 

Not yet.

 

When Jasper turned, she did not see her Pearl. She did not see the runt Amethyst. She saw a mixture of the two. A fusion. Her glowing gem ached.

 

The roar that followed surely echoed throughout the abandoned town. Both of her companions had retreated to the ship. The fusion stumbled and shook, but drew back the string of her bow.

 

Jasper charged forward.

 

The fusion released her arrow.

 

It all happened so quickly- The arrow shattered against Jasper’s helmet. The Gem Destabilizer crashing into the fusion’s abdomen. It crackled, slowly dividing the fusion. The beautiful, elegant fusion that corrupted her Pearl.

 

_ “I’m sorry.” _

 

When Jasper blinked, the two gems had fallen onto the sand, no trace of the mouth that had whispered those two hoarse words. She lowered onto one knee, scooping up both retreated gems, and stared at her Pearl. An oval, not a circle, she noticed. Her palm clenched and shook around its borders, threatening to crack the smooth surface.

 

Her glowing gem ached. The Pearl’s was silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said it's a vague oneshot??  
> Thank you everyone who left comments and Kudos- I was so surprised it got that much attention, and every word made my day! You took the time to write those sweet words, so I took the time to make another chapter. I'm sick right now, though, so the writing is probably a bit awkward. Hopefully you all still like it!


	3. Tint

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For a moment, they forget the world.

This was it. Five thousand, three hundred years of fighting, ended by a single Quartz soldier. It had been started the very same way.

 

Pearl pressed her palms to her gem, squeezing her eyes shut as if by that pressure alone, she would poof again. She would be vulnerable, but at least she would no longer feel the burning sensation of eyes against her back.

 

She had felt them since the moment she reformed. Normally she took days, sometimes weeks to perfectly calculate every detail she desired, but this time was different. This time, if she took too long, Amethyst could be shattered. She could be shattered.

 

Steven could be shattered.

 

So instead of waiting, planning, she had acted as recklessly as she knew how, just as she had long ago. It was a time of war once again, after all.

 

Even in haste, she appeared in a bright light. Her head, which occupied her gem, formed first, followed by her torso and other limbs. She had not bothered to modify her clothing.

 

As Pearl’s delicate feet touched the ground, she almost stumbled as she recognized her surroundings. It was an environment she knew very well - Bleak walls, small floor space, and an intimidating gaze searing into her.

 

Her mind worked like lightning, determining the fate of her friends- Her family. Steven would be kept alive, just like Jasper- _The_ Jasper, had mentioned. Garnet had been separated. Sapphire was rare; they would keep her alive. Ruby was common. She could be easily shattered. Amethyst was defective. Yet Pearl was a Pearl. A lost, defective Pearl, unharmed.

 

Pearl’s shoulders raised, defiantly pressing back to the watchful eyes of her unknown guard. They were alive. They had to be alive. All she had to do was wait.

 

Wait she did. She stood there, her arms at her sides, slightly raised in a poised, elegant fashion, her feet _en pointe._ Since reformation, she had not moved an inch. Precious seconds were wasted. Seconds turned to minutes.

 

Minutes almost turned to hours, until she heard a low growl. It was the first noise she had heard in this dreary place, and it shook her to the core. It summoned her hand up to her gem, bringing her to her current state of mind.

 

Nothing would happen unless she triggered it.

 

So Pearl turned her head sharply to face the aggressor, her eyes wide with icy determination.

 

They met the wide gold orbs of a Jasper. _The_ Jasper.Clearly, she hadn’t expected that her nose of frustration would finally bring a response. If anything, she seemed almost awkward upon realizing that finally, they were face to face. Pearl found some comfort, and some dread, noticing that Jasper’s gem was emitting a dim glow. Just like her own.

 

Precious seconds were wasted, just staring. Both guarded, both weary, and both afraid of what the future held. The silence remained, uninterrupted by Pearl’s hesitant step.

 

That single step seemed to shock Jasper further and, surprising them both, made her take a half-step backwards. They both froze, and Jasper caught herself, rooting in place.

 

Pearl took another step. Then another, and another after that, until she was mere inches away from the other. All that separated them was a thin sheet of yellow. Pearl gulped, once again breaking the silence upon realizing that she barely reached Jasper’s chest.

 

Silence began again.

 

Together, their hands tentatively rose.

 

They moved closer, inch by inch, until they almost met...

 

A shriek of static ripped through the air, followed by Pearl’s own squawk of pain. She stumbled back, cradling her hand, then looked up.

 

She would never forget that face.

 

The face of Jasper, eyes wide with a feral fright, confusion, relief, guilt, all battling to be expressed through her golden irises. Those that could not find space seemed to reconcile in her gem, which glowed brilliantly even as she staggered back.

 

How could she not have realized? Pearl lowered her head, grinding her teeth to hide the pain. The wall between them was easy to see.

 

At what point had it become invisible to them both?

 

Pearl’s head jerked up as the loud stomping announced Jasper’s retreat down the hall.

 

The wall was there, as it always had been. Everything outside was tinted yellow.


	4. Knowing

There were other things in her vision, but only one thing really mattered. A deep green chunk, half buried in the sand. Even though Pearl didn’t eat, the sight made her sick.

 

It was another reminder of _her._

 

In truth, she was only thinking partially of Jasper. Only partially of their single interaction, of her anger which echoed through the halls afterwards, of the feral look in her eyes when she looked up, cradling a smaller gem, as if to boast that, though her gem still glowed, it no longer glowed because of Pearl.

 

With the gentle touch saved only for Steven, Pearl cradled the chunk of the lost ship in her arms, carrying it off to join the rest of the pile.

 

Why couldn’t she speak? Why couldn’t she  _ think? _

 

Her grip tightened around the metal, as tight as she had forced her eyelids together, blocking it and everything else from her vision.

 

During the rebellion, she had gone against hundreds - thousands of Quartz’. None of them phased her. None of them affected her resolve, her will to live and to fight for Rose- The Earth. Then again, none of them made her gem act so strangely. She had spent five thousand years without its light, and yet suddenly it made her feel like something was missing.

 

Some _one_ was missing.

 

“P?”

 

Pearl jolted up and stumbled forward, her thin hands scrambling to catch the metal chunk she had practically thrown away like some crucial evidence to her inner thoughts. It was nothing so major.

 

After catching her breath, she turned to look at Amethyst. Her visible eye was a dark pool of confusion and concern. It had been that way since the forced fusion disappeared.

 

They had an unspoken agreement not to tell Steven or Garnet what Jasper had done to Opal. Amethyst knew there was something more to it than another show of disgust towards fusion, but didn’t press. For now, all she noticed was how quiet Pearl had been since then.

 

Pearl opened her mouth to speak. Her tongue touched her two front teeth before she inhaled and promptly swallowed, alarmed by how dry her throat had been after a simple spoken letter.

 

She knew she should tell her what happened. Her tongue had flattened as thoughts traveled to its tip, aching to form into words. Words of the Jasper- No, not just any Jasper,  _ her _ Jasper. The Jasper she had not encountered in over five thousand years. The Jasper that she had not thought of in over five thousand years. The Jasper that made her want to go back five thousand years and slap her older self for running away.

 

The Jasper that was gone.

 

She swallowed again. This time, she took all of those words with her and replaced them with a single, dangerous lie.

 

In a soft tone, she let it free into the air.

 

“I’m fine.”

 

With that, she set the metal chunk, coated in the memories she had suppressed, with the rest of ship’s remains and took Amethyst’s hand.

 

They walked back to the house, away from the pile, in knowing silence.


End file.
